Week 9's Progress

Posted by Katie Falcone , Thursday, May 31, 2012 10:05 PM

This week, we have made a some progress in writing the report. We had a meeting on Wednesday, 5/30, to discuss what tasks each one of use should be completing. However, there was a slight set back, because we were unsure of what template to follow. We have started writing in one format, and plan on adjusting the information to whatever template our lab instructor would prefer.

The following parts were assigned to the following people, and a draft will be posted on a static page either tomorrow after our meeting, or this weekend:


Phu- Introduction (Background information)
Peter- Introduction (Existing solutions)
Kenny- Final design (The three designs and showing the difference between them and why they were designed that way)
Katie- Results (3 budgets and explaining why these three designs are good and why they are better than what's on the market)
Sam - Conclusion (What we accomplished, why it's important, ect.)

Tomorrow in class, we are going to discuss final details of the report, as well as final details about the presentation coming up.

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Week 8's Progress

Posted by Katie Falcone , Thursday, May 24, 2012 9:09 PM

This week, has been yet another successful week as far as research is concerned. We are able to finally wrap up this phase of our project after this week, and begin starting the final report!

This week, Peter has developed a preliminary decision matrix, shown in Table 1, that shows the pros and cons to the proposed electrospinning apparatus versus other company's apparatuses. Although it does not include all of the possible proposed designs, it does show the advantages of the "best" model over the competitors. The best possible total score is 25, and the worst possible score is 0. The proposed model got a 21/25, while the closest competitor received only a 15/25. This shows how innovative the proposed model is in comparison to other companies' models.


Table 1: This decision matrix demonstrates the pros and cons between the proposed design, NanoFMG's design, and NanoSpider's design [1][2].

Phu has been busy doing research on how to optimize the electrospinning process. He found a helpful video, available here, that shows different aspects of how to make the electrospinning process efficient [3]. Also, he has reported many of the safety requirements for syringe pumps. He found out other useful information that tells how the syringe pump will work and how to optimize its use for different types of tasks [4]. In Table 2, it shows the flow rates of different syringes of different diameters [4].

Table 2: This is a chart thats shows the different flows rates of specific sizes of syringes and is useful in helping to optimize the efficiency of electrospinning. 

Kenny is still working developing a CAD model of the third proposed design. We are all working on the final report for the project and we are going to decide how to split up the tasks tomorrow in lab. 

[1] NanoFMG. (2012, May 6). Pricing for the NanoSpinner 24 [Web]. 
[2] Elmarco.com (2011). NanospiderTM Technology [Web]. Available: 
       http://www.elmarco.cz/technology/nanospider%3Csup%3Etm%3Csup%3E-technology/
[3] National Center for Biotechnology Information (2011). Electrospinning Fundamentals: Optimizing  
      Solution and Apparatus Parameters [Web]. Available:  
      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3182658/
[4] kdScietific (2007). Microliter OEM Pump Module: Users Manual [Print].

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Week 7 Progress

Posted by Katie Falcone , Thursday, May 17, 2012 10:49 PM

This week, our group has made great progress in many different areas of the project. Kenny has been working hard to improve the CAD model of the newly designed electrospinning apparartus. We have decided that we should have at least three CAD models for the final report, so that there is some variety in our design and so that we can make the multiple design fit multiple purposes. Figure 1 is the beginnings of our second CAD model for the final report. This model shows the syringe pump, hose, and a door on the back end of the apparatus, as well as other details. This placement of the door might improve safety for the user, as opposed to the previous model.

Figure 1: Second rough draft of the electrospinning apparatus design

We have also gathered some more important patent information, which will only improve our background knowledge of electrospinning so that we can better our design even further. Phu has been in close contact with Jay Bhatt to dig up more information about electrospinning devices and their configurations. In Figure 2, a basic electrospinning setup is shown, which is one that has been patented and already exists on the market [1]. It is important to know the patent information for other devices, so that we know that we are not copying someone else's idea and so that we can build upon the ideas of others, in order to make a better design over all. In this setup, the electrospun fiber 130 travels to the collector 140, where it is attracted by by either upper electrode 142 or lower electrode 144 [1]. By placing a substrate between those electrodes (for example glass substrate), the fiber 130 can be linearly-aligned between the upper and lower electrodes on the glass substrate 150 [1].

Figure 2: Schematic illustration of an electrospinning test setup used to form linearly-aligned fibers [1]

Reference:
[1] A. S. Baca et al, “Electrospinning process and apparatus for aligned fiber production,” U.S. 2011/0018174 A1, Jan. 27, 2011.  

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Electrospinning in the Field of Biomedical Engineering

Posted by Katie Falcone , 10:16 PM


This video is a short, but informative explanation of the uses of electrospinning the field of Biomedical Engineering. It has useful information about the process of electrospinning and the practical applications of what we hope to design.

This video is made by Virginia Tech University and all rights to this video are reserved to them.

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Progress in Week 6

Posted by Katie Falcone , Thursday, May 10, 2012 9:48 PM

This week a lot of progress was made, which helped make up for last week's delay. Peter was able to contact a major electrospinning apparatus manufacturing company, called NanoFMG. They were contacted, so that our group could see the prices of other electrospinning apparatuses that are on the market. We want our design to, not only better in terms safety of safety and efficiency, but also be cost effective. The prices are listed in Table 1, which was sent to us by NanoFMG.  The price of the cheapest machine they sell that would be suited to our purposes (the Ne200) around $25,000 [1]. 
The total projected expenses for our project should significantly less than prices listed in Figure 1. 



Table 1: This figure represents the costs of different electrospinning apparatuses that the company NanoFMG sells. It is a good indicator of what the prices of other machines on the market are [1].

Kenny was also able to start the beginnings of his part of the final project, which is designing and creating a CAD model of the electrospinning device we want to make for this project. Though it the drawling is still somewhat in it's infancy, it certainly gives a concrete of ida of where we are headed and what we want the machine to roughly look like. This portion of the project is the only physical manifestation of the research and hard work everyone has put into this project, so it should represent everything we have learned through this design process. A picture of the design at this stage is inlaced under Figure 1. 

Figure 1: This picture shows the beginnings of the CAD model for the electrospinning apparatus design that is being worked on further. It gives a rough idea of where of what we are thinking right now and a projection of how we want the final product to work.

The other members of our group have also been working long and hard to find out more information on patents and other important information about the how to go about the rest of our design. Phu and I are looking up more patent information, with the help of Jay Bhatt. Phu is still gathering more information as of right now, and after our meeting tomorrow we should be able to posy some of his findings online. 

[1] NanoFMG. (2012, May 6). Pricing for the NanoSpinner 24 [Web]. 

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Progress Has Been Delayed Due to Unforeseen Circumstances

Posted by Katie Falcone , Thursday, May 3, 2012 6:12 PM

This week's progress has been delayed for the time being based on unforeseen circumstances. Specifically, 3 members of the group were unable to work on the project owing to the fact that their building was flooded and they were forced to move from it. The progress that has not been made this week will be made up in the coming weeks. We are still continuing our research as best we can and trying to make as much tangible success as possible. Phu has emailed Jay Bhatt, the Engineering librarian asking for details electrospinning. Kenny is still currently working on the CAD model of the electrospinning apparatus we want to design. Peter will contact the dehumidifier companies within in the coming days. We will regroup tomorrow morning, 5/4, at 9AM and discuss how we will make up for the lost time.

The only updates on the research performed this week come from Sam, who looked up a variety of safety regulations for fume hoods. This research will help us further our design plan and understand how we want to connect the apparatus to a fume hood. The safety manuals are available through these links:

http://web.princeton.edu/sites/ehs/labsafetymanual/sec7g.htm


http://euverc.colostate.edu/safetytests/High_Voltage_Safety_Manual.pdf


http://www.spellmanhv.com/Technical-Resources/Articles/~/media/Files/Technical-Resources/Articles/IEEE_Recommended_Practices.ashx

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